Seaweed Nest

Seaweed Nest

Cross was running his hand over the soft nest that he and the shiver had been sleeping in since he arrived. It was soft and plush, warm and safe. But it was starting to fall apart. He would have repaired it himself. If he knew how. There were quite a few nests hidden in the Trench. At times Cross saw the others working on theirs. It was amazing how everyone, everyone except him, knew how to weave these special nests that were all so comfortable. He wasn't jealous per se, but he certainly would love to learn.

"Whatcha doing Cross?" Dream swam up and curled himself around the thresher. He gave a small hum at the warmth.

"Just thinking," Cross received a bonk for his response. "How do you all make these nests?" The leviathan gave a squeal and darted away from Cross. Had... had he said something wrong. Just as the poor mer was about to leave, Dream swam back in, kelp in hand. He dumped the seaweed on Cross and sat next to him.

"Ooh, I've been wanting to teach you this!!" 

------

"Baha, oh my gosh Crossy-" A certain bull shark mer burst out laughing at the sight before him.

"Shut up," The mer glared at Killer for even thinking about teasing him. "It's Dream's fault."

"Don't blame me! I was just trying to-"

"Brother, you don't even know how to make a nest,"

"I do! It's just... Different is all," The goldfish pouted. Nightmare allowed himself to fall into his smaller form. Once a reasonable size, he untangled his brother and mate from the mess of seaweed they had made.

"Don't do this again. Horror will be happy to teach you both," He gave both of them a pat before leaving to dispose of the knot of kelp.

------

"This is nice," Cross murmured as he sunk deeper into the newly made nest. Horror only purred in response. Dream was still off sulking somewhere, though, it was likely Dust was with him as the whitetip had mysteriously vanished some time ago. "Thanks for the lesson," Cross got a kiss for his words.

Screw spambots and all, but Ms. Tessendorf502 and Ms. Padberg96, I will be stealing your last names for the next time I can't think of one for an OC.

Also, also, why are these bots so, like, flirty? suggestive? The ones following me anyway. Are they all like that? If they are, excuse me? I'm gay? Your bot flirtations have no effect on me, even if you were real.

Look at this!! I can draw!!

Shamura just trying to document their baby bro when the worm decides to take matter into his own hands. I love him so much💙

Scales

The coming of winter didn't really affect the chill of the Depths. It was always took cold for comfort. It was why Dream was such a vital source of heat for the shiver. But it was quite unfortunate that there was only one of him. And that he rarely liked to stay still. The shiver tried to take measures to keep Dream close whenever the water was too frigid, and Dream was usually more than happy to oblige. But there were times when he couldn't. If Dream himself needed to be somewhere, or if the shiver split up... So they all sat around, each curled up in one of Nightmare's tentacles, ready to brainstorm ways to keep warm when the living heat source wasn't present.

"I say, Dream turns into his leviathan form and we all just cuddle him like that," Killer said, almost like he believed it was a good idea.

"Uh-huh, I hear you, but I'd rather not be boiled alive." Dust replied. Cross murmured his agreements.

"Wellll, we could just go up to the surface to soak up the sun. Or, I could. Just me. Y'know-" A large tentacle pinned Dream down mid-sentence. He huffed and got himself comfortable. His brother and the shiver were determined to solve this problem before Dream left to explore the reef. Which was quite unfortunate for the goldfish, as they had been discussing this topic for the better part of an hour.

"If it wasn't so time consuming, we could bring back the heated rocks..." A gigantic hand scooped some rocks and pressed them to the trapped mer. "It always worked when we were younger," Dream shoved the rocks away.

"But we're not. And cuddling with rocks  is sooo uncomfortable brother. Besides, I would need to heat them back up a lot more than the ones you used. It's colder down here,"

"Couldn't we just... use your scales?" Horror spoke up for the first time in a while. The shiver fell silent.

"A moment, please," Nightmare said before dragging Dream deeper into the trench. The sharks all gave each other questioning looks before curling up into a purring pile. Whilst nestled together, the water heated up considerably.

"𝒮𝒯𝒪𝒫 𝐼𝒯! 𝒢𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓅𝒾𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊-" Dream's screeching could be heard from wherever he took Dream.

"Stay still. I know for a fact that this doesn't hurt."

"𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒! 𝐿𝑒𝓉 𝑔𝑜! 𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂!" The sharks approached the place they last saw the leviathan twins and looked into the deeper darkness. The water was almost unbearably hot when they reached the edge of the trench.

"That is the worst lie I've heard all century," Nightmare deadpanned from the abyss. Loud, incomprehensible screeching words could be heard as the water started to cool once more. Nightmare emerged with his much smaller brother at his side and five glowing objects in his hand. He placed one by each of the shiver and gave a wide grin like he hadn't just plucked off what were clearly Dream's scales in his larger form. There were a few inquisitive noises from the sharks until they realized just how warm the scales were.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Killer asked, practically drooling as he cuddled the scale that was almost too large for him.

"Because it requires me being in my leviathan form. And Nightmare harassing me. Apparently."

Request for varian and the seven kingdoms! Fic where Hugo gets turned into a dog accidentally, probably by some wierd alchemy fail, and the group struggles to turn him back

The day had been peaceful and calm. Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing was chaotic or crazy. Varian had sent Nuru and the others to go shopping for some chemicals he would need for an experiment leaving the Coronan alchemist alone.

Ruddiger, of course, was also there, helping and making sure Varian didn't do anything dangerous or accidentally forget a step in whatever new project he was working on. Everything was in order. Varian smiled to himself as he pulled his goggles over his eyes, ready to try and stabilize his new compound. Just as he was about to add a single drop of stabilizer-

"VARIAN!" The alchemist dropped the pipette but quickly caught it before it fell to the ground. Nuru burst into the tent, her expression rather flustered, with Yong right behind her.

"Nuru? What's wrong?"

"THAT! THAT IS WHAT'S WRONG VARIAN!" Nuru pointed harshly at a golden retriever that trailed in behind Yong. Varian raised an eyebrow, an unamused expression crossing his face.

"Yong found an animal sidekick and you're mad there's three of them now?" Varian asked. Yong giggled while Nuru glared.

"That's not a dog, Varian," The princess was seething as she tried to calmly explain the situation.

"Pretty sure it is- Wait. Where's Hugo?" Nuru motioned over to the dog. "No. Nuh-uh. Do not believe you,"

"Well you better. We were out getting everything on that list you gave us and went to this little apothecary. Hugo tried to steal something and it turns out the owner knew magic," Nuru said, the exasperation in her tone clear.

"Did you try to get them to turn him back?"

"They kicked us out right after. Didn't even let us say sorry," Yong spoke up, one hand stroking Hugo's silky fur. Hugo huffed and brought a paw up to stop Yong from petting him. "Aww, sorry, but you're just so soft!" The pyrophiliac exclaimed before bending down and throwing his arms around the dog. Hugo gave up and just allowed it to happen.

Varian sighed and started putting away his current project. Nuru stopped Yong from suffocating Hugo and then proceeded to drag the dog outside by the scruff of his neck. When she came back in, Varian had completely cleaned up the tent. Ruddiger was now perched on the boy's shoulder, chittering happily.

There was little talking on the way back to the apothecary. Prometheus was pulling the cart. Nuru, Yong, Varian, and Olivia all sat inside. Hugo was forced to walk, an extended punishment. Normally, Varian would take pity on the thief, but the quicker they left, the sooner they would be at the next kingdom. Something that was going to take even longer because now, one of their party members was a canine.

Yong was looking over Varian’s shoulder as the Coronan was swiftly jotting down details about Hugo’s condition. It was easy to conclude that whoever did this was in no mood to undo it, so they had to find an different way to turn the thief back into a human. Nuru was looking at the map, occasionally glancing over to the miserable Ingvarrian. If there was a way to fix Hugo and begin their journey to the next kingdom, she was determined to find the quickest route.

There was a snap and Varian groaned. The pencil tip broke and he was too agitated to keep writing. He threw the pencil and opted for looking over what he had written so far. Nothing that would be of use. Hugo was completely dog, excluding his mind. He couldn’t talk, couldn’t write, he couldn’t even walk on two legs! Olivia climbed up Varian’s arm and grabbed the snapped pencil tip. She proceeded to draw a handful of vials filled with liquids of varying shades of gray, not that the pencil had any other color.

“What’s that?“ Varian asked the mouse. Yong gasped and started digging in his pocket for something. Nuru looked over.

“That’s- That’s what Hugo stole,“ She said confused. Yong had found what he was looking for and pulled out several multi colored vials.

“I got ’em! Hugo had them when he got turned into a dog so I kept them!” Varian’s eyes widened.

“What if we returned them?“ Yong carefully handed over the chemicals sloshing around in the glass. “Maybe, whoever it was will turn Hugo back,“ Varian mumbled a couple of things to himself before having Nuru lead them back to the apothecary.

Varian was the only one who walked into the store. Inside was a young person of maybe 14. They sat behind a counter counting the few coins they had gotten over the day.

“Excuse me?“ Varian said as he approached the counter. The person looked up, curious green eyes meeting Varian’s blue ones. “I- uh, would like the purchase these for my friend,“ They eyed the vials Varian placed on the counter warrily.

“Your friend is a dog?“ Varian nodded sheepishly. “Alright. Once you pay for these, he’ll be back to normal,“

Varian walked out of the apothecary to see Hugo hugged his very human body and the smallest bit of a floppy dog ear disappearing. Olivia was squeaking happily, snug in her human’s pocket.

“You bought the vials?“ Nuru asked. Varian shrugged.

“We needed them. And look, Hugo’s back,“

“I can’t pet him anymore,“ Yong said sadly. Hugo pat the boy on the head and started towards the cart.

“Sorry Firecracker. But lets not stay here too long,“ 

“He’s one to talk,“ Varian grumbled before following after the thief.

Low Tide

The tides were Nightmare's domain. His connection to the moon meant he technically had complete control over them. Not that he interfered that often. Oh, who was he kidding. He did that all the time. But not just for fun, at least, not most of the time. The last time he had used a tsunami to destroy a coastal kingdom had been for a good reason, he swears! They had been dumping random things in the ocean. Probably not good for any of the inhabitants of said watery domain. But that didn't matter now. The moon was high in the sky and pulling the ocean to its own will, not Nightmare's.

The leviathan was perched on a smooth rock jutting out of the sea. The waves lapping at the sides kept his tentacles hydrated and were a steady background noise to focus on. His eyelights were fuzzy, sleep starting to creep up on him, but Nightmare kept his eyelights on the water's edge. It had slowly been receding for the past... Nightmare forgot. He had been watching for so long and was content to keep doing so until the moon forced the water back up onto shore. It was a calming and cool night for just... watching... and that's what he was doing.

A few crabs hid in the now beached rocks, some retreated back to the water. Tide pools were no longer drowned under the salted cover of ocean and if Nightmare had been just a little more awake, he would have gone over to investigate what creatures had gotten trapped when the water left them. Last time, he found and ate a purple-ish starfish and a small stranded anchovy. A small feast for an ancient being, but he wasn't picky. The time before that he had persuaded Dream to join him and they found an urchin, which they used like a ball and played catch with, completely unworried about the spines covering the entirety of the animal.

Nightmare lowered himself into the water and dove under, watching the water return from the other side. Below, it looked and felt just as slow as it did above, on his perch, but the fish were schooling farther and farther from the beach, likely not noticing it themselves. Nightmare smiled and swam until he reached a large, glowing coral. It was close enough to the shore that he could still watch the tides, but had a horrible vantage point for the spectacle above the water. So he opted for squeezing himself into his sleeping brother's arms and watching the waves retreat from below the surface.

Dream got to awake the next morning to the lovely surprise of his twin, nestled in his embrace, snoozing away after a long night of doing nothing but observing the ocean itself.